CRICKETER’S TESTAMENT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26775, 19 May 1948, Page 2

CRICKETER’S TESTAMENT

“THE GAME GOES ON”

The Game Goes On. By Denzil Batchelor. Eyre and Spottiswoode. 13s. The felicitous prose with which Denzil Batchelor describes cricket and those who play it invites comparison with that of Neville Cardus, a comparison in which Mr Batchelor’s work suffers not at all. He not only loves cricket, he understands it in every detail, and his understanding enables him to write with sympathy, with tolerance and with humour. The Game Goes On is a random pageant in which the great figures of the game pass in review, revived by the author, not because of the records they made, but because their names are as enduring as the game itself. He also recalls some of the famous games of recent times, including those he reported during the tour of Allen’s team in Australia and the tour of the last Australian team in Great Britain. Mr Batchelor is quick to praise the manner in which young Australian cricketers are given the opportunity of forcing their way to the top, and his comments upon the British and Australian systems indicate a shrewd appreciation of two wholly divergent approaches to the one goal. His book should be on every cricket lover's shelves.